Midnight Rendezvous
by Keira U
Summary: [SasuSaku] They met at midnight, in a world separated from everyone else's.
1. 1st Night In Each Other's Arms

Midnight Rendezvous

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Summary: They met at midnight. In a world separated from everyone else's.

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Their love was like a scene out of some old romance movie.

They met in the dead of the night. At a forgotten lake in the Uchiha compound. On the little platform that extended over the shore of the lake. There, the emotions bottled up inside them surged out in tidal waves, each one engulfing the other.

The two people that met there at night could never be found in the day. The girl was just another one of the boy's fan-girls. Miles, no, light years away from each other. Yet their midnight selves could never resist a few glances now and then towards the other. Assuring themselves and the other with a silent, 'I am here' and 'the night will come'. Their days may be long, tough and at times all but bearable, but they still always managed to hold back their _need_ and _desire_ till the night.

At their lake, in the pitch-black darkness, the boy would speak about his past. About betrayal, about revenge, about the nightmares that plagued him in the day. The girl would listen but never comment.

Together, they shared his pain and burden.

He needed to know that someone still cared about him and for him. He needed constant nudges of emotions to ensure that he did not lose his mind to the claws of insanity constantly snapping at his ankles. Her presence itself reminded him that he was indeed still human and not a deranged child whose life purpose was to commit fratricide. That he still had control over feelings.

'I dreamt… that _he_ took you away… that I was too late to save you… that…that he tortured you… till…till… you _died…_, that…that… I _failed…_ to avenge you…'

He was sitting in a cross-legged position. Head in his hands, fisted and twisted in his hair. He could never be caught looking so… vulnerable in the day, with tears pouring down and sobs racking his frame. It was only at this time would he expose the weakness and pain of his.

'He stabbed… you... again… and again… and _laughed_… All I could do… was _cry_… and hear you screaming... And...And..He took…your… your...Your _screams..._' at this he could no longer go on and his cries took over. No one would imagine him to be a child; the cries had tones of baritone in it and a quality of pain so deep that could only belong to one that has seen suffering their whole lives.

His stuttered words further muffled by choking sobs almost rendered his words undistinguishable but still she heard him.

His tears were falling into the lake, creating ripples that disturbed the calm stillness of the water. His sanity flowed away with them, falling into the water and swirling away.

She reached over and pulled him into her lap. At this he turned and like a child, put his arms around her neck, drawing her closer to him as she was drawing him closer to her. His face in the crook of her neck tears soaking her dress. He enclosed as much of her as he could in his arms, needing to know that she was there and not dead. That she was still with him in his world where darkness ruled the sky.

During all this, not a word did she mutter. All she did was to stroke his hair softly, just the way he liked it, rubbed his back with the soothing touch only she could give, giving the physical touch he craved as his language of love.

She held him till slowly and gradually his cries died down and his breathing calmed, tears freezing in their tracks. He had cried himself to sleep, soothed by her touch and presence. She felt something warm and sticky soaking through her clothes that were not tears and gave the barest hints of a smile imagining the world's reaction when they found out their precious Uchiha child drooled.

She carried him like one would carry a child. Step by step back to his house but not his home.

In the short yet long walk back, he shifted in her arms, just once, to cling to her arm, snuggling into her warmth and murmuring her name.

She nearly dropped him in her surprise.

She let herself into his house; it was unlocked, as always, as no one in the right mind would come to this part the village unless they had monsters on their heels.

Gently, she laid him on his bed, pulling off his shoes as she did so. Pulled the blanket over him and turned to go. Just as she put on foot our of the door way, he muttered, 'don't go', she turned to look at him, uncertain if he was just muttering in his dreams. Seeing what she thought were closed eyes, she decided to go. But, then, he said, 'please'. His eyes were now open a barest of fractions but they were looking at her, even in that little bit of his eyes that she could see, she knew that they expressed his tiny plea.

That night was the first of the many that they slept in each other's arms.

Her name was Haruno Sakura.

And his was Uchiha Sasuke.

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	2. 1st Conversation

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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In him she found a much needed assurance and acceptance.

She was friendless in childhood. Ashamed of her wide forehead, her pathetic attempts at hiding it only served mark a bull's eye on it. It marked her as an excellent target for bullies and taunts. Her aura practically screamed, 'LOW SELF-ESTEEM! GOOD TARGET FOR BULLYING!' Afraid to get hurt, she hid herself behind her pitiful defence - self built walls of shyness.

Later, her walls would crumble from the force of one Yamanaka Ino. The event was a double edged sword. Sakura turned submissive, became a convenient slave of Ino's. Always relied on her to give the directions in every little thing, became one that couldn't think for herself. Sakura kept thinking that if she stayed close, Ino would protect her against the bullies and from being hurt - from _pain._ Always looked up to her and revered her to the point where she over looked all the flaws Ino had and made her, - her world.

Then, she met him.

It could have been fate. It could have been destiny. It could have been sheer luck. Or it could have just been a coincidence.

She was running, blinded by tears, stumbling onwards. She didn't care for direction, all she knew was to run and hide. Running was good; it helped her get further away being hurt. Where was she? Where was her savior and protector? She felt so lost not being at her side. She wanted to feel safe again.

She fell.

The shock of the sharp pains from various places in her body brought her back to reality. The flow of tears had been stemmed. She got up; and looked around.

She was lost.

Then, she saw a boy. She recognized him. He was the top in her shinobi class. He was the Uchiha Sasuke-kun. What was he doing here? Nobody came here anymore…this was the Uchi – oh. She had run into the Uchiha district.

He had turned at the sound of her fall.

She looked at him.

He looked at her.

His legs dangled over the edge of the platform that extended over the edge of the lake. His palms were placed back a ways from him, on the wood worn smooth by the countless people that had once walked its surface, at an angle that allowed him to rest his weight on them. His face was tilted upwards, its side facing the glowing orb that hung above the. Its fiery rays bathed his face in a glow at an angle that lit it up in a way that made it look as though part of his face was glowing. The other half, shrouded in shadows gave a contrast to his face that was haunting and mesmerizing at the same time. It seemed as though that his face held the light and the dark within them, both equally drawing, representing the inner turmoil of his soul. But, she was not to know that. Yet.

When he saw her, she was grimy from her earlier fall and was just getting to her feet. Her fore-head was rather wide. Not that it bothered him. From where he sat he could pick out the vivid startling green of her eyes. They shone above anything else and it was them that drew him to watch her. An unusual behaviour for him as he hardly spared a second glance at anyone he deemed unimportant. She held her hands at her chest area, fingers tangled messily in an incoherent manner. She bit her lip. He found it amusing. That she was nervous around him, that she had to hold her hands in front of her as if they could defend her against…anything, something.

They stared at each other, unmoving.

They were a distance from each other, eye sent messages did not work too well.

He was annoyed. Why, of all people did she have to come here and disrupt his un-often peaceful mind! Couldn't she see that he did not want her company?

She was nervous. It was plainly obvious in the academy that he did not like people near him. Yet she wanted so badly to be protected for a while. She wasn't sure if Ami and her gang would continue to chase her, but she was tired from hiding and running all over the place and badly wanted to rest safely.

She just stood there, pondering, fingers twitching, deciding.

He had gone back to watching…well…nothing…

He heard the shuffling of feet and inwardly thought that she had _finally_ gone off.

Eyes widened when he realised that they were growing louder by the second and that with a sort of finality, stopped beside him.

A groan echoed in his mind. _Damn!_

Why of all days it had to be today that his dark aura and pain inducing glares fail him? He was torn between killing the girl, drowning her or just letting her be. She _was_ kind of quiet…

He shifted his body over to make room for the girl.

He could sense her smile as she sat down.

Silence.

The sun continued its descent as shadows grew longer and souls turned darker.

Silence.

The moon was well into along its path through the sky.

Silence.

He got up and she got up and they went their separate ways home and all that had transpired between them was...

Silence...

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The next day he was there again. Like he had been everyday of his suddenly solitary life.

And she was there too.

The silence had ruled supreme for a while before her voice broke the silence.

'Ano..I hope you don't mind me being here...'

Her words were composed of uncertainty and the fear of displeasing. She faced downwards, looking at her legs that dangled over the edge with her hands playing with each other in her lap.

'Don't you have training to do?'

His voice was brusque, sharp and rough from lack of use. It wasn't that he was annoyed. It was just that he had forgotten how to speak. He had forgotten how to communicate. He had forgotten how it was like to have a bond with another human.

She was sharply taken aback by his response. Yet, she could detect that underneath his unfriendly sounding words, certain that he did not mean harm. Something told her that he wasn't angry. She pressed on. Hopeful, yet scared.

'I...I train in the morning Sasuke-kun.'

More fiddling with her hands.

He watched her fumbling fingers for a moment before placing his hand on them. Halting the oh-so-_annoying_ action.

'You have to learn how to hide your fear. It's why you get bullied so often. You make them think that you can't defend yourself.' He growled.

She nodded hesitatingly and he released the fingers he had trapped within his own.

His hands were calloused from handling the tools of their trade she noted.

Her hands were soft. Only slightly marred by shuriken he noticed.

'You need to train more,' he scowled, 'meet me here tomorrow after class.'

As soon as the words were out of his mouth he was berating himself in his head. What of the oath to swore? To never let anyone close enough to him for it to hurt? And so what if she didn't train enough? What did it have to do with him? And why, why, _why_, on earth did he just _volunteer _to help her? He _never_ bothered about anyone other than himself before!

No, once, he had cared about others. But not anymore. He crushed the haunting memories in his mind.

He turned to face her. Annoyed at himself for having such a lapse. Just look at what he had done. Now Sakura was _hopeful_.

Indeed she had brightened. Her eyes sparkled and the corners of her mouth slanted upwards in a genuine smile.

'Arigato Sasuke-kun.'

That was the first conversation that they had.


End file.
